FDOT and Planning Council Release Safe Routes to School Video

The Florida Department of Transportation and the East Central Florida Regional Planning Council released a powerful new video called Protect the Journey, advocating "Safe Routes to Schools."  The video is intended for policy makers and concerned parents.  Kudos to Tara McCue at the Planning Council for getting the video produced.  You can view below:

Lake Whitney Elementary School Parents Overwhelmingly Support a Roundabout

Conceptual roundabout for Roberson Road and Windermere Road.  Credit: WALC Institute and TDC Design Studio

UPDATED MARCH 13 --  At a Community Meeting last night, Lake Whitney Elementary School parents and nearby neighbors overwhelmingly supported a proposal for a roundabout at the intersection of Roberson and Windermere Roads instead of Orange County's current plans to add lanes on Roberson.  One community leader estimated that about one hundred residents voted for the roundabout proposal in Commissioner Boyd's informal poll.  I didn't count the number of "yes" votes, but can confirm that support was overwhelming and that only two residents voted in opposition.    

Jurgen Duncan, the Canin Associates transportation designer who designed the Windermere roundabouts, explained that single-lane roundabouts can accommodate up to 25,000 vehicles a day.  He said that the County plans only address east and westbound traffic.  He said a roundabout would alleviate north and southbound motorist congestion as well.  He presented the following conceptual drawing:

I'm told that two transportation engineers who looked at the intersection concluded that a roundabout would work.  Kelly Morphy, a Lake Whitney Elementary School Mom and leader of the community effort, gave a wonderful presentation, expressing that the intersection should be a "people place," given the proximity to George Bailey Park, the elementary school, and 3,000 residents within one mile. 

I urged those attending the meeting to get out of the cars and walk around one of the roundabouts in the Town of Windermere on foot.  I said they would find that roundabouts slow traffic so that pedestrians and motorists can make eye contact.  Motorists will slow to a stop and motion pedestrians across.  I said this civility happens virtually everyday in the Town of Windermere.  (Roundabouts not only saved Windermere taxpayers millions in road widening costs, but also the Town's charming character).   Theresa Myers, a resident of the Town, said that she and her children walk and bike the roundabout by Windermere Elementary School, including during rush hour, and that she finds it safe.  Other residents expressed similar experiences. 

I said that the Federal Highway Administration now accepts roundabouts as a "proven safety countermeasure."  I pointed out that the Windermere roundabouts ended mile-long traffic back-ups.  I said, "We know from our common experience that they work." 

Jurgen explained that modern roundabouts have very precise angles of deflection to slow traffic, normally to between 15-20 mph.  County officials pointed to "roundabouts" in Avalon (really a large traffic circle) and near Lake Reams in Horizon West.  Tory Parish disagreed with the latter characterization, calling the Horizon West rotary "a high speed sling-shot." 

Residents expressed concern with the type of development the current road widening proposal would encourage.  Kelly suggested that a roundabout would encourage more desirable development. 

Residents also expressed a willingness to delay relief from congestion at the intersection in order to "get it done right."

Jurgen said a roundabout would cost between $350,000 - $450,000.  Jurgen's plan, as currently laid-out, would require the County to acquire about 500 square feet at a corner, whereas the County's current plans require no right-of-way acquisition.  (The County's current plans would cost about $495,000, including over $100,000 for design work already done).  Winter Garden City Manager Mike Bollhoeffer indicated that the City could contribute funds budgeted for intersection improvements.  Ocoee Mayor Scott Vandergrift said that impact fees from the Belmere development, not yet spent, were another possible source of funding. 

Here's my letter published in last week's Orlando Sentinel:

County should address its roadways' shortcomings
Thanks to Sentinel columnist Beth Kassab for shedding light on West Orange County's transportation-planning shortcomings ("Our suburbs shouldn't settle for risky roads," Sunday).

We shouldn't require children to walk across six lanes of highway to school, especially in Horizon West, where the county's own land-use plan mandates a "pedestrian-oriented" environment.

The county is planning yet another highway for Horizon West's Town Center, which will make residents drive, instead of walk across the street to shopping and dining.

Roundabouts, like Windermere's, cut injuries 70 percent and fatalities 95 percent, compared to intersections with traffic lights. Roundabouts move traffic so efficiently that they eliminate the need for road widenings that cost taxpayers millions.

Lake Whitney Elementary School parents are championing a roundabout for Roberson Road. Yet the county rolls out disco-era road-widening "improvements," which increase danger to kids on foot.

I support the efforts of citizens who are urging a course correction.

Rick Geller District 1 Planning and Zoning commissioner

Here's a LINK to Ms. Kassab's strong column, accompanied by video footage from C.R. 535, site of a six-lane highway school crossing.

Injustice and a Senseless Tragedy

Click HERE to read Eliza Harris's blog post (reprinted at http://www.commuteorlando.com/) on the conviction of the Mother whose young child was killed trying to walk from a bus stop to their apartment complex across an arterial thoroughfare.  The Governor of Georgia should pardon the grieving Mother and end this injustice.  Responsible officials should install a signalized crosswalk as a first step to prevent a repeat of this senseless tragedy. 

Here's NBC News video:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Transportation for America opined:

…This is a major issue in inner-ring suburbs across the country, places originally built as auto-only suburbia that now are home to many lower-income families who don’t have access to cars. Neither the public transportation system nor the highway designs work for those who live, work and walk in these areas. People are being punished and killed simply for being pedestrians. Our research shows that thousands of lives could be saved — and millions more lives improved — by retrofitting these dangerous roads, as many communities are trying to do.

FDOT Begins Review of Pedestrian, Bicyclist Safety Policies

The Sun Sentinel published an interview of FDOT's new secretary, Ananth Prasad, in which he announced that FDOT has begun a "thorough review" of its policies relating to pedestrian and bicyclist safety.  Here's an excerpt:

Q: In May, a new report ranked four Florida metro areas, including Orlando at No. 1 and South Florida at No. 4, among the nation's most dangerous for pedestrians. You recently testified before Congress that it might not make sense to build sidewalks, landscaping and bike trails. Can you elaborate?

A: My point was we should not have pre-established goals. We need to make sure it's needs-driven rather than a fixed amount of money or a percentage of the program spent on landscaping or sidewalks where they might not make sense.

Florida has been doing very good. Our highways are the safest in their history. (In 2009, the state Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles said traffic deaths in Florida dropped to a historic low. The state recorded 2,563 traffic fatalities in 2009, compared with 3,533 in 2005.)

We're committed to pedestrian safety. The numbers are trending downward. We recognize that one accident and one life taken is one too many. We've started a thorough review of our policies. We're going to make sure any changes we need to make continue to make our roads safer for pedestrians, for people in automobiles and for bicyclists.

I'm told by those who know him that Secretary Prasad is an honorable man, so I'm taking him at his word.  I'm convinced, after consulting with some of Florida's leading transportion engineers and planners, that we can gradually, over time, improve pedestrian and bicyclist safety by incorporating the Institute of Transportation Engineers' cutting-edge Walkable Thoroughfares manual into FDOT's Florida Greenbook, which sets design standards for thoroughfares maintained by local governments, and the Plans Preparation Manual, for State thoroughfares. 

Secretary Prasad is correct that pedestrian facilities do not always make sense.  We need to adopt Complete Streets design standards on a context-determinative basis.  We need to focus our attention on schools, parks, where pedestrians regularly cross thoroughfares from apartments to bus transit stops, and on compact urban areas, such as downtowns and central business districts. 

It's one thing to adopt a Complete Streets policy, which Florida arguably already has by requiring "full consideration" of bicyclist and pedestrian safety needs.  It's another to incorporate meaningful design standards for areas where they're warranted.  The Secretary and FDOT deserve a chance to improve pedestrian safety standards in suburban, and especially in compact urban areas.  It doesn't make sense to endanger pedestrians by designing thoroughfares for 50 mph motorist travel where two minute traffic signal cycles undermine time and capacity gains from such speeds.   Where warranted by the context and public safety, we need to slow the traffic.

Turn Florida's Deadly Roads into Safe Ones

The Orlando Sentinel ran the following guest column last Sunday.  The "Dr. Phillips Club," referred to in the op-ed, is the Dr. Phillips Rotary Club. 

Click to enlarge.

Transportation for America posted an interactive map showing the location of pedestrian deaths nationwide.  The Orlando map shows FDOT arterials--East Colonial, Semoran, and OBT--as lines of death.

Source: Transportation for America

Transportation for America posted the following message:

Our federal tax dollars actually go to build these streets that are designed to be perilous to children, older adults and everyone else. And yet, right now, some in Congress are considering the total elimination of funding for projects to make it safer to walk and bicycle.

....  But 67 percent of these fatalities over the last 10 years occurred on federal-aid roads — roads eligible to receive federal funding or with federal guidelines or oversight for their design.
....
The irony is that fixing these conditions is relatively cheap: Existing funds for that purpose — now targeted for elimination — amount to less than 1.5 percent of the current federal transportation outlay.  ....

Child Deaths, Injuries Warrant Road Design Investigations

You may have noticed a lot of kids critically injured and killed on our roads last week. Children with green lights, in crosswalks, walking to school, walking to catch a school bus.  Boys losing their brothers.  Parents losing their children. Reading about this carnage day after day in the Sentinel is unbearable. I'm hugging my four kids a little harder every night.

A pick-up truck struck and critically injured Douglas Ethan Swayze, 10, walking in the crosswalk directly in front of his elementary school, Spruce Creek, in Port Orange.  The road is a typical 45 mph posted arterial highway engineered for 50 mph traffic.  The child had about 70 feet of pavement to cross, with no refuge island, exposing him to danger for an extended period of time. 

Taylor Road--The highway in front of Spruce Creek Elementary School (lower left-hand part of photo) in Volusia County where Douglas Swayze, 10, was struck and critically injured while walking to school in the crosswalk.  The crosswalk, in the upper center of the photo, is not lit.    

I cannot comprehend why a school board member, school planner, or official would place elementary schools on highways, where we know children will walk. 

A week earlier, in front of nearby Silver Sands Middle School, a car hit Kasey Alexander, 12, and Sarah Griffin, 11, but only injured them slightly.  The road is two-lanes, tamer, and safer compared to Taylor Road.

The two-lane road in front of Silver Sands Middle School. 

Studies find a correlation between the percentage of pedestrians who survive a collision and vehicle speed.  Billy Hattaway, VHB Miller Sellen's director of transportation planning for the State of Florida, gave me the following chart:

To summarize the chart: speed kills. 

In East Orange County last week, a motorist ran over and injured Miguel Rodriguez and killed his twin brother, Anthony Rodriguez, both 15 years old. Anothony was an English honors student and football player.  The brothers were walking to their school bus stop on the side of Valencia College Lane.  There's no sidewalk on the highway, yet that's where Orange County Public Schools designated a school bus stop.   

The Orlando Sentinel reported the family was "angered that the teens could no longer use a bus stop close to their house — accessible by a side walk. A school district spokeswoman said that bus stop is for middle school students. Anthony and Miguel couldn't use it anymore because they graduated to high school."  This terrible policy had deadly consequences.   
 

In Kissimmee last week, a Lynx bus ran over and injured Mark Robinson, 12, and killed his brother, Mathew Robinson, 10, walking with a green light in a crosswalk in Kissimmee.  Look at the well-rounded curb radius--about 35-40 feet--which encourages high speed vehicle turns.

The Lynx bus turned left, heading northbound on Dyer Blvd. to westbound on Columbia Avenue.  Numerous apartments are in the northeast corner.  The approximately 40 foot curb radii encourages vehicle turns exceeding 30 mph. 

Compare those curbs to those in old neighborhoods, or New York City, where curbs are more square than round.  That slows vehicle turns to speeds safer for pedestrians. 
 

The Dangerous by Design report came out in November 2009 and--one year later--I am hard pressed to identify substantial measures undertaken by FDOT and our local governments to improve upon our #1 in the nation pedestrian danger ranking. 

Putting aside designated sources for transportation funding, it's ironic that we can spend $70 million widening three miles of the Turnpike, $12 million tearing out part of the 429, hundreds of thousands on this and that intersection widening, and not more than a pittance making our existing roads safe for pedestrians. 

10/17/10 UPDATE: I received the following information from the Orange County Planning Department regarding $2.4 million in budgeted pedestrian safety items not in the Capital Improvement Element:

The Public Works engineering budget includes $2 million for sidewalks.  Last year the County spent $1,774,194. A safety committee meets to prioritize projects for this budget item.  Additionally, Traffic Engineering has $419,500 budgeted for FY11 for pedestrian safety. This funding is for safe routes to school. Last year the County spent $675,000 under this line item.  In addition to these line items, funding for new roads or road widenings include sidewalks, and new subdivisions are required to construct sidewalks.

I did not find any projects to redesign dysfunctional roads in the DRAFT Orange County Capital Improvements Element probably because the Element is directed to facilities needing minimum Levels of Service (e.g. levels of service for automobile flow).   It is counterintuitive that a "road diet"--removing lanes and slowing traffic--can improve a road's level of service.  However, East Central Florida Regional Planning Council executive director Phil Laurien told the Council this morning that a road diet, if done correctly, can have that effect. 

We should not single out Orange County for criticism.  Can anyone name one existing arterial or collector road elsewhere in Central Florida redesigned in the last year to slow-down motorists for the safety of pedestrians and bicyclists?

The new Town of Windermere roundabout next to the Elementary School is a notable exception.  The roundabout provides an example how a local government can keep a road safe and narrow.  Traffic tie-ups have virtually vanished while low-engineered speed traffic enables motorists and pedestrians (mostly children) to make eye contact.  Motorists then ease to a stop and wave the kids to cross.  After a Federal SAFETEA-LU grant, the roundabout will cost the Town about $120,000, according to my discussion with town manager, Cecelia Bernier.  By comparison, a traffic light would have cost the Town at least $225,000 while imposing ongoing electrical and maintenance costs. 

The time has long passed to consider sweeping reform of our road design standards, both locally and at the State level.  We need road designs sensitive to the context.  Where we know kids will walk--in front of schools and apartments--we need design standards that slow the traffic.  We need to narrow the lanes. We need landscaping that gives motorists a better sense of their speed.  We need to require lit pedestrian crossings and refuge islands.  The Institute of Transportation Engineers has published new standards for designing walkable, urban thoroughfares that warrant adoption.  The Federal Highway Administration endorses the concept.  A growing national movement advocates "complete streets," designed for all road users, not merely motorists.  Local governments take note: Federal grants opportunities are shifting in this direction, as Windermere's experience with their new roundabout demonstrates. 

Saving motorists an extra 10-15 seconds (lost at the next red traffic light) was not worth the lives of Anthony Rodriguez or Mathew Robinson.  In the meantime, official investigations into their senseless deaths and the other incidents discussed here warrant in-depth consideration of the role played by poor road design. 

Aloma Avenue--Dangerous by Design

Commute Orlando posted the video below, taken on Aloma Avenue near where two vehicles killed a sixteen year old Winter Park High School student earlier this month. The crosswalk and street design meet all FDOT requirements. Senseless.


Pedestrian Workshop 10/17 from Keri Caffrey on Vimeo.

Commute Orlando opined:

If traffic were slower, many more motorists would be willing to yield since they wouldn’t be as afraid of being rear-ended. I understand FDOT’s concern about placing crosswalks on higher speed roads. The solution, however, is very simple; lower the design speed and speed limits in pedestrian areas. The right to build high-speed arterials through pedestrian-active urban areas needs to be revoked.

UPDATE 12/17/10: The teenager killed on Aloma was intoxicated, according to media reports yesterday.  His impaired judgment undoubtedly played a significant role in his death.  One can't blame his death entirely on the road design.  Tragic.     

Horizon West Deserves a Break Today



Horizon West Frye PD -- Lakeside Village on C.R. 535.  McDonald's is the outparcel. 

 

Winter Garden Village--No pedestrian amenities between Target and McDonald's.  The drive-thru McDonald's at Lakeside Village in Horizon West would have a similar layout. 

 Horizon West Drive-Thru McDonald's Approved

Site Plan Needs Adjustments

On September 21, the Board of County Commissioners approved a special exception for a drive-thru McDonald's at the Lakeside Village Center, on C.R. 535 in Horizon West.  The location is across from the existing apartments and condominiums.  The applicant, Boyd Development Company (no relation to Commissioner Scott Boyd) proposed a suburban prototype McDonald's like the one at Sembler's Winter Garden Village.  Try walking (with children) from Target to McDonald's.  Without sidewalks, it's dangerous and uncomfortable.  The proposed siteplan would undermine Horizon West's pedestrian-oriented requirements and needs adjustment.



McDonald's "Winter Garden Village" auto-only suburban prototype

McDonald's suburban prototypes wrap the drive-thru and parking around the building.  When walking to or from the restaurant, one might feel a moment of discomfort worrying about a vehicle pulling out of the drive-thru queue with the driver looking into his bag of burgers and fries to make sure the order is correct.  Others might not comprehend the danger to themselves or to their children. 

McDonald's "Winter Garden Village" prototype has a typical drive-thru wrap-around. 

I asked for help from the Congress for the New Urbanism's Orlando chapter.  I recieved overwhelming responses, including from Canada.  Toronto banned drive-thru restaurants that wrap around the building and cut-off direct access between the street sidewalk and the restaurant door.  McDonald's developed (or adapted) a new prototype placing the drive-thru in the rear.



McDonald's "Toronto" prototype.  Toronto disallows drive-thru facilities that cut off sidewalk access. 

 The City of Orlando similarly requires drive-thru facilities behind restaurants without cutting-off sidewalk access.  The Taco Bell at SoDo is a good example.  It improves upon the McDonald's Toronto prototype by including a separate queue lane.  Here's a GoogleEarth view:


TacoBell at SoDo, Orange Avenue, Orlando.

McDonald's adopted a similar layout--with the drive-thru in the rear--at its Ybor City, Tampa restaurant:

Ybor City, Tampa McDonald's



Ybor City McDonald's outdoor dining.

 The Lakeside Village McDonald's in Horizon West should adapt the Toronto or Ybor City prototype.  Any pedestrian path crossing the drive-thru lane should rise above the driveway grade.  The Lakeside Village McDonald's should add an architectural edge to the development's interior street, enhance the concept plan's grid pattern, and provide direct sidewalk access.  The County should also consider parallel, on-street, parking in front of the McDonalds (on the interior street--not on C.R. 535).  The McDonald's should become a walkable destination for future apartment and condominium residents who will live in Lakeside Village, on the west side of C.R. 535. 

The developer's attorney told me they're amenable to what we're trying to achieve.  Commissioner Boyd is in support.  Orange County staff wants to work with us to improve the plan.  Stay tuned.

Roundabouts: An Alternative to Road Widening

The Orlando Sentinel published the following op-ed:

(click to enlarge)

A Roundabout As a Potential, Long-Term Solution for Wallace Road and Dr. Phillips Boulevard

Concept Drawing for a Roundabout at Wallace Road and

Dr. Phillips Blvd. (Courtesy: Canin Associates)

Click HERE to link to a presentation to Orange County staff made by Billy Hattaway, VHB's Florida director of transporation planning, Jurgen Duncan, Canin's transportation planner, and myself on March 11, 2010.  The presentation includes data from a computer simulation conducted by a senior VHB traffic engineer, which demonstrated that a roundabout would significantly reduce driver delays during the afternoon rush hour.

After the meeting, I sent Commissioner Boyd the following email:

Dear Commissioner Boyd:

Thank you for attending yesterday's meeting with David Heath, [public works director ] Mark Massaro, and public works staff.  Billy Hattaway, P.E., VHB's Florida director of transportation planning, Jurgen Duncan, Canin's transportation planner, and I were grateful for the opportunity to present our proposal for a a roundabout feasibility study for the intersection of Wallace Road and Dr. Phillips Boulevard.  A roundabout could alleviate congestion, improve the area's aesthetics, and provide a safer environment for children walking between Dr. Phillips Elementary School and the Dr. Phillips YMCA.

Unfortunately, it appears we began our effort too late, and the budget contains too little money for a roundabout.  As explained below, my recommendation is that public works should proceed with the road widening in the short-term, while considering a roundabout as a long-term solution.

The Case for Road Widening as an Interim Solution

Mark Massaro presented a good case that funds for the additional lanes are available immediately for relief to motorists while the County budget lacks the larger funding necessary for a roundabout.  Public works accepted bids for the additional lanes on March 2, 2010, receiving a low bid of $127,992, significantly less than the $230,200 budgeted for the work. The City of Orlando provided Orange County with $100,000 for intersection improvements as a result of litigation between the Orange Tree HOA and Pulte Homes.  Childrens' Legacy Program funding will cover the balance.  Long term, the intersection needs mast arm traffic signals, which will cost at least $250,000.  (UPDATE: Public Works advises the cost is $200,000-225,000).  However, the County has no short-term requirement to incur that expense.

Engineering plans call for adding right-turn lanes on Wallace Road and Dr. Phillips Boulevard and extending the northbound left-turn lane on Dr. Phillips Boulevard.  The intersection is congested during peak hours (in part due to the multiple traffic signal movements).  We learned yesterday that the right turns account for about 30% of the traffic movements.  Therefore, the new lanes should provide relief for at least for a few years until enough motorists divert their travels from Sand Lake Road's congestion.  I was glad to see, based on our closer review of the engineering plans, that the additional right-turn lanes will not increase the pedestrian crossing distance on Dr. Phillips Boulevard, already at 115 feet.

The Case for a Roundabout as a Long-Term Solution

However, I remain concerned about pedestrian safey at this intersection.  We learned yesterday about 140 children walk the intersection on a typical school day.  In 2006, a pedestrian and bicyclist were involved in crashes.  I met a woman at the Clubhouse Estates Homeowners Association meeting this week whose child was riding a bicycle and hit by a car at the intersection, which she said went unreported.  In 2009, according to information obtained by your staff, the intersection experienced more than forty crashes, including four with injuries and four blocking lanes.

The road widening plans do not preclude what we would propose as a long-term solution for Dr. Phillips' heart: a pedestrian-friendly roundabout. As we discussed, roundabouts slow traffic speeds to 15-20 mph, and virtually eliminate T-bone and head-on crashes.  As a result, roundabouts reduce injuries 76% and fatalities 90% compared to signalized intersections, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.  In recent years, the United States Department of Transportation has become a proponent of roundabouts in part because, "Slower speeds are generally safer for pedestrians."

With a roundabout, motorists and pedestrians can make eye contact.  When this occurs in Windermere, motorists ease to a stop and motion pedestrians to cross the street.  A motorist traveling at 20 mph will more likely yield to a pedestrian than when driving at 45 mph.  The Windermere roundabouts ended traffic back-ups of up to a mile. 

 Town of Windermere Roundabout--15-20 mph traffic with short crossings are conducive to pedestrian safety

View across Dr. Phillips Boulevard
115 feet of pavement with 45 mph traffic.

Notwithstanding the four-way, all-red stop condition at Wallace and Dr. Phillips Blvd., the 115 foot wide intersection with 45 mph traffic is intimidating from a pedestrian's standpoint.  The conceptual plan we presented would reduce the pavement distance to two 26 foot crossings to a center split island.  Pedestrians could cross more quickly, reducing motorist frustration.  A roundabout would become an amenity for the Dr. Phillips community--a seam that brings the various subdivisions together as a neighborhood, rather than a fragmenting intersection.

Recommendations

I would encourage you to schedule a community meeting about the Dr. Phillips transportation network to allow a broad-range of residents to have meaningful input into a long-term vision.  If a consensus of the community would like consideration of a roundabout, I would then encourage you to ask the County to conduct the roundabout feasibility study we suggested yesterday. (The County should secure funding for the study from the $100,000 savings between the low bid and budgeted intersection widening.)  If a roundabout appears feasible, we should attempt to secure a Federal Safe Routes to School grant and look for other funding sources. Based on Billy Hattaway and Jurgen Duncan's experience, the study, engineering, and construction of a roundabout should cost between $300,000 - $500,000, depending on the level of amenities and cost of right-of-way acquisition.  Jurgen's conceptual plan required only a small triangle of land for right-of-way acquisition, which the County could swap with the school district for unneeded right-of-way.

Mark Massaro estimated that a roundabout would take several years from concept to completion.  In the meantime, the current road widening will provide some relief to motorists.  I hope that, in the long-term, we can provide a safer environment for the children crossing the 115 foot intersection.

I look forward to working with you and public works to identify other intersections in District 1 that may serve as viable candidates for a roundabout.  I was pleased to learn that staff views the Windermere roundabouts favorably and will consider the possibility of roundabouts going forward.

Respectfully,


Rick Geller

(UPDATE: 3/22/10--I received heartbreaking news.  The son of friends of ours, an 11 year old, well-liked student at Southwest Middle School, is in intensive care at Arnold Palmer Hospital.  Last Friday after school, a car struck him while he was trying to cross Wallace Road in front of the Sand Lake Hills neighborhood to go to the YMCA.  Please include Daniel and his family in your thoughts and prayers.)

Church Street Stumble

Eliminating Half of Sidewalk At Odds with City Code

A crowd of pedestrians on the part of a sidewalk slated for elimination for a right-turn lane.  The orange cone marks the traffic signal pole's planned new location.

Mayor Dyer's administration normally is friendly and "gets it" when it comes to implementing walkable urbanism in the City of Orlando.  Perhaps that's why many find the City's plans to eliminate on-street parking and half of Church Street's sidewalk at Orange Avenue so maddening. 

This intersection, at downtown's heart, may have some of Central Florida's heaviest pedestrian traffic.  SunRail, the new Arena, and 55 West will combine to increase the number of pedestrians exponentially. 

Queues on Church Street rarely amount to more than several vehicles, and Church Street closes to vehicles in the evenings when Arena events will occur.  Traffic load can further disperse by making Pine Street two-way, as City Commissioner Daisy Lynum proposes. 

The City is attempting to solve a non-existent problem, and in so doing, will make the public realm more dangerous and less business-friendly.  Cafe Ritazza depends on the on-street parking for part of its customer base.

The City of Orlando's Code (§ 61.253) classifies Church Street at Orange Avenue as a "primary pedestrian street."  The Code defines "primary pedestrian street" as follows:

Primary Pedestrian Street. These streets, although they sometimes play an important vehicular traffic role, are the ones which have been designated to receive strong pedestrian emphasis, either because they carry heavy pedestrian flows or because they play an important visual role or because they link important activities or open spaces. Emphasis on the pedestrian requires wide sidewalks, frequently-spaced street trees, and other amenities to make walking a pleasant experience.

Eliminating half of the sidewalk is at odds with Orlando's Growth Management Plan's Downtown Element and ordinances, whose goals and policies are intended "to create Florida's Premiere Downtown by...enhancing the street-level pedestrian environment...."  This is no enhancement. 

One Orlando City Commissioner informed me he had no idea of the City's plans until he read about them in the Orlando Sentinel.  I would like to see the City reconsider, and, going foward, would ask Mayor Dyer to consider establishing a more thorough means of review for street-widening plans Downtown and in other areas intended for pedestrians.

As a "primary pedestrian street," pedestrian traffic should have priority at Church Street and Orange Avenue.

(UPDATE -- March 1, 2010 -- I received word that, in view of concerns expressed by land planners, transportation engineers, and members of the Orlando City Commission, the City has placed the sidewalk narrowing on hold pending a full evaluation.) 

Change Zoning Laws for Safer Roads

The Orlando Sentinel published the following op-ed:


(Click to enlarge)


Sidewalks three feet from travel lanes with cars whizzing by at highway speeds--about a half-mile from Windermere Preparatory School.

C.R. 535 in front of Windermere Preparatory School.  Posted speed: 40 mph.  Actual typical speeds: 40 - 50 mph.  No crossing walk across C.R. 535.  No wonder we don't let our kids walk to school anymore.



Our zoning laws require, or encourage development in the sprawl pattern, represented by the bottom of the diagram. All travel must go to, and concentrates on the collector or arterial road. Form-based codes can facilitate development in a more traditional, walkable form, represented by the top of the diagram.


The Orlando Sentinel published a very kind and supportive letter-to-the-editor from Marilyn Marks, on November 22, 2009:

Three cheers for Ideas that favor pedestrians

Rick Geller's down-to-earth My Word column, "Change laws for safer roads," on Tuesday was superb.

I never realized why I shudder while driving on West Colonial Drive's long, endless blocks of parking-lot fronts. It is maddening and just plain ugly.

You can forget parking at one place and attempting to walk to another store across the street. Why not consider the Miami plan, which creates better environments for the pedestrian? We should not continue to duplicate these Neanderthal-like massive concrete blocks of parking-lot frontages.

After all, this is Orlando, the City Beautiful, right?

         Copyright © 2009, Orlando Sentinel

Metro Orlando Most Dangerous for Pedestrians in the Nation

Typical road sprawl on Colonial Drive--Economically failing and unsuitable for pedestrians


Colonial Drive--An Alternative Vision (Courtesy: Canin Associates)


The report released this week by the Surface Transportation Policy Partnership ranks Metro Orlando #1 in the nation for pedestrian danger. The report states 50% of pedestrian deaths are occurring on road sprawl. Instead of balancing the needs of motorists and pedestrians, we're engineering roads with the dimensions and encouraging the speeds of interstate highways. Click HERE to link to the report.

In its lead editorial this morning ("Walk the Walk, Nov. 13) the Orlando Sentinel correctly identifies poor planning as a culprit and suggests more vertical mixed-use development, like in Chicago and Portland, instead of sprawl development patterns.

However, our zoning laws make that illegal in many instances.

Central Florida's local governments should look to the example set by Miami last September--a comprehensive new zoning code that integrates road planning with creating attractive, pedestrian-oriented environments. Click HERE to link to Miami's new zoning code website.

Rick

P & Z: Make Seidel Road Pedestrian-Oriented

ORLANDO, July 16 -- The Orange County Planning & Zoning Board unanimously rejected plans to turn Seidel Road into a 110 foot-wide, high-speed arterial highway slicing through Horizon West Village F, east of S.R. 429. The Horizon West Code requires roads that "encourage" pedestrian use.

"The arterial roadway plan was not consistent or compatible with the Code and the comprehensive land use plan," said District 1 Planning & Zoning Commissioner Rick Geller. "No one in their right mind would let their kids cross, or themselves cross this roadway" on foot.

The design featured 11 foot lanes plus a foot of curb--the width of an interstate highway lane. Pedestrians would cross four high-speed travel lanes plus two turning lanes, totaling over 70 feet of pavement. Traffic engineers were contemplating 45 mph traffic.

"This design will induce traffic," Geller said. The proposed roadway would "create hundreds of [traffic] trips" by requiring residents in high density apartments and condominiums to get into their cars merely "to go across the street to go shopping." He said it would also require students to use automobiles to go across the street from the future Horizon West high school in order to visit the Neighborhood Center commercial district and park.

"I'm afraid we're making the same mistake we made on [County Road] 535," said Geller, where eight lanes of 55 mph traffic create a barrier between high density apartments and condominiums on one side of the road, and the future Lakeside Village commercial Center, on the other.


Arterial highway separating apartments on C.R. 535 in Horizon West from the future Village Center commercial district. This road design induces traffic by requiring residents to use their cars merely to travel across the street.

Renzo Nastasi, Orange County's director of transportation planning, said the 110 foot wide design was ten feet less than standard arterial roadways, including 535 and Apopka-Vineland Road.

"It's not good enough," said District 6 Commissioner Sheila White.

"There are more things we can do," said Nastasi.

Geller criticized the lack of on-street parking in front of the commercial Village Center located on Seidel Road. He pointed to Village Code provisions requiring on-street parking in front of ground-floor retail located close to the road. Geller said on-street parking is essential for buffering pedestrians and cafe patrons.

After the hearing, Geller noted that, under the Horizon West Code, on-street parking counts towards parking requirements and that developers would merely shift parking from parking lots located behind commercial buildings to the street.

Geller proposed consideration of boulevard designs, where medians on both sides of the road separate higher-speed through traffic from low-speed local traffic with on-street parking.

"I'd like to see that for future roads," said District 3 Commissioner Joe Roberts.

Vice Chair Kevin Seraaj said similar boulevards in Chicago, where he grew up, were both safe for pedestrians to cross and moved traffic.




Octavia Boulevard replaced an elevated freeway in San Francisco.


Jergan Duncan, a transportation planner with Canin Associates, informed Geller after the hearing that, according to the Federal Highway Administration, vehicles hitting pedestrians at 30 mph will cause death 45% of the time. The figure climbs to 85% of the time when vehicles travel at 40 mph. Duncan said decreasing the speed from 40 mph to 30 mph over the course of a mile lengthens travel time by only thirty seconds.




Source: Congress for New Urbanism, Emergency Response and Street Design (June 2009), available at: http://www.cnu.org/sites/www.cnu.org/files/CNUEmergency%20Response_FINAL.pdf.

Aside from making Seidel Road slower and safer, Geller said the landowners and developers will save considerable sums in paving costs if the street lanes decrease to 10 feet in width.

A land planner for a significant Central Florida developer, who observed the hearing, summarized, "The road did not fit the context."

The Planning & Zoning Board unanimously approved the Village F's rezoning to Planned Development except for Seidel Road's design. The Board approved a condition to re-engineer Seidel Road as pedestrian-oriented, with 30 mph traffic. The recommendation goes to the Board of County Commissioners for approval.

Re-Imagining Our Roads

The Orlando Sentinel published the following op-ed:


(click to enlarge)


West Colonial Drive near Kirkman--typical arterial road sprawl.


Village at Lake Lilly Apartments, Maitland, Florida


9th of July Avenue--Note the low speed lanes on the side for local traffic. Even the billboards blend into the built environment. "We don't need Buenos Aires' scale, but we do need vertical mixed use buildings..."


Buenos Aires street life--Parked cars buffer pedestrians and cafe patrons


Charles de Gaulle Avenue in Paris. Again, medians separate lanes for slower, local traffic. Boulevards like this one inspired 9th of July Avenue.

Here's an interesting video about multi-way boulevards constructed in San Francisco after the City tore down elevated freeways:


San Francisco: Removal of the Embarcadero Freeway from Streetfilms on Vimeo.